Gundam SEED Astray S Frame
by razor.the.red
Summary: The Astray project where Orb built three Mobile Suit prototypes at Heliopolis... Rumours say there were in fact four of them... Follow Shere Meiji, an Orb soldier, and his comerades as they salvage the so called MBF PO4...
1. Chapter 00

Hello everyone, long time no post! (I think). During my six-week holiday in France, I decided to write another fanfic, this time in the SEED universe. My previous fanfics (Gundam W, Final Fantasy and – don't you dare laugh – Pokémon), were written during other holidays.  
I was able to get the first few chapters typed thanks to my Aunt, who I am currently visiting.  
The bad thing is, her Internet is, well, slow. Slooooooooow. That's why I can't post much.  
More chapters will probably be submitted over the next week, and after that, you'll have to wait about four weeks until my return home. Then I'll be able to type the rest of my writings. Right now, everything is still on paper.  
I did not use any reference site, like Mahq or Wikipedia while writing this. So it's likely that you will find some mistakes here and there. I did write down a few MS serial numbers before going to France.  
Thanks in advance for relying. Here goes...

GUNDAM SEED ASTRAY: S FRAME

The silence in the room came to an abrupt end when ten fingers touched the keyboard. Together with the peaceful hum of the computers, and the occasional sound of the air supply-refill, it created an ambience of work and focusedness.  
On the leftmost monitor, Mobile Suit blueprints were shown in succession. Another monitor kept switching between photographs with text next to them.  
The photograph showed a eccentric young man facing the camera, grinning while raising his thumb and wearing a headband which kept up his brown hair. The rest of his clothes consisted of a yellow jacket and a black shirt underneath.  
The screen flashed, and now a serious-looking fellow, probably a few years older, was shown. The person wore yellow glasses, had long sleek brown hair and a bit of a tan. He wore an EA uniform.

The fingers kept flying over the keyboard, barely touching one key before moving to the next one.  
The last monitor, right in front of the person typing, showed a space colony map. First, it showed the entire colony. Then, it zoomed in on a small portion of it. Some sort of base was being shown. The moment the person's right index finger released a key, the screen zoomed in again, Now, the base's Space Port was being shown.  
The left middle finger moved upwards, and pressed a button. Immediately afterwards the two hands moved away from the keyboard and folded across the person's chest.  
On the screen, hundreds of digits came scrolling down, while a loading bar in the lower right corner showed the progress. When the bar was filled, the screen switched back to the Space Port map, but instead of the blue-lined 3D model, it now showed a red 3D model. The red Space Port 3D model seemed severely damaged.  
Another loading bar appeared, and while it filled itself, numerous yellow dots became visible on the map. Next to them, serial numbers were shown.  
The flashing words 'NOT FOUND' appeared underneath the dot labelled MBF-PO1.  
Another flashing 'NOT FOUND' sign appeared, this time referring to MBF-PO2, located close to the first dot. The third dot, MBF-PO3, also received the 'NOT FOUND' icon.  
But dot number four, labelled MBF-PO4, didn't get the 'NOT FOUND' rating...

GUNDAM SEED ASTRAY: SILVER FRAME

PROLOGUE 

The year is Cosmic Era 71, PLANT and EA are both in the middle of a full-scale war.  
Although some nations, like Orb and the Kingdom of Scandinavia, have managed to remain neutral in this conflict, it's only a mater of time before they also become involved in the Natural versus Coordinator conflict.  
As Mobile Suits proved to be much more effective weapons of war then Mobile Armours, Orb ordered it's Research & Technology center Morgenroete to secretly develop prototype Mobile Suits at Orb's Heliopolis Colony, where currently the GAT-X 'Gundam' MS were being built.  
Dubbing the prototypes 'MBF-PO', Morgenroete successfully designed and constructed multiple MS, giving each one distinctive colours to identify them.  
First in line was MBF-PO1, Gold Frame.  
MBF-PO2 was called Red Frame.  
The third, MBF-PO3 received the name Blue Frame.  
Preparations for shipment of the first three prototypes was under way when ZAFT attacked the Heliopolis Colony to steal the five GAT-X Gundams. Due to numerous mistakes on both EA and ZAFT's side, this lead to the destruction of the Heliopolis colony.  
Since the Heliopolis incident was all over the news and every action near the Colony's remains was closely being monitored, Orb took no action to retrieve their prototypes, the new 'Natural OS' installed in some of them, or the new EA/Orb weapon hand plugs.  
A little while after Heliopolis's destruction, Junk Guild technician Love Gule found and took Red Frame. Blue Frame was taken by Gai Murakumo, a member of the mercenary Serpent Tail. Gold Frame was retrieved by Rondo Gina Sahaku, an Orb Nobleman.

Shere Meiji, Natural and ex-commander of a Orb elite squadron, currently working for Morgenroete as one of their main Mobile Suit designers, was ordered by Uzumi Nara Athha to go and retrieve what was left of their MBF-PO project. Being the main designer of the MBF-POs, he was most suited for the job. He had been in Orb, bringing report when the Heliopolis Colony collapsed.  
Now, in a Silverwind civilian vessel modified for MS transport, he is making his way towards the remains of the Heliopolis Colony.   
Accompanying him are Mia Scarlet, Coordinator and also a ex-Orb soldier. (Navigator)  
Rick Marble, a Natural Junk Guild tech (technician), and Nigel Schtauff, Coordinator and veteran ZAFT-soldier. He now has a job as one of Orb's MS test pilots.

Some lives are lived. Some lives are lost. Some lives are enjoyed. Some lives are being put to an end.  
Some lives are worth remembering. I think this one is...

Hmm, sounds like a dramatic start...  
I'll soon post some chapters!


	2. Chapter 01

PHASE 01

The door slid open as someone entered the room.  
"There you are" a female voice said as the slide door closed itself. "Planning ahead already? We won't be arriving at Heliopolis in another two days..."  
"Never postpone anything to tomorrow if it can be done today" the person sitting in the chair said. Turning the chair around, they faced each other.  
He, sitting in the chair, wore a normal Orb commander uniform with a red collar and the upper part of the jacket unbuttoned. His mid-long dark-blonde hair was all combed to one side, partially hiding his left eye. His eyes had a marine blue colour. He looked like someone in his early twenties.  
The other person, now also taking a seat, was a woman in her mid-twenties. She also wore a Orb military uniform, the standard female officer outfit, with a green collar. Her hair was something between dark green and dark blonde, tied in a long ponytail reaching her back. She had bright green eyes which were accompanied by blackglasses placed on top of her head.  
"So, PO1 to 3 were stored in the cargo bay, ready for shipment?" the man asked.  
"That's right, Shere. The construction facility.", she pointed a finger at the last yellow dot on the screen, "That should be where we can find PO4. But there probably isn't much left of it. According to the technicians, they had already completed it. It seems that the construction facility wasn't completely destroyed by the self-destruct mechanism, so maybe..."  
"I see. We'll just take what's left of it. By the way, when are we going to enter ZAFT territory?"  
"Actually, I came here to say we just have. Everyone has to put on their civilian clothing." she said, winking her eye.  
"Eh?"   
"Well, unless you want ZAFT to find out we're actually Orb soldiers sneaking into their territory as a shortcut to salvage Mobile Suits, you'd better wear something different."  
They both smiled for a moment, before a new face appeared on the monitor. 

"Amigo, no flirting during working hours!" the face on the screen proclaimed. The face consisted of two brown eyes, tanned skin and a evilly grinning mouth. Each ear was adorned by a small green earring. On top of the head, a strange black mass was located. It looked like something between dreadlocks and spikes. A yellow banana-print vest completed the picture.  
"This ain't..." Shere began.  
"No excuses! Doing this kind of thing is forbidden, and you know it!"   
"Um, Rick, we weren't..."  
"Denying, are we?"  
Shere rolled his eyes as the guy rattled on.  
"You just wait! I'll get my revenge! I'll..."  
At that moment, the woman sitting next to Shere bent forward and said: "Rick, stop using the ship's cameras to spy on people and get on with the job you're hired for!"  
"What job? I'm hired to identify and repair stuff! I ain't got nothin' to do here in this..."

With a faint 'click', the monitor became void of any colour.  
"Man that guy talks a lot. Mia, why did you hire him in the first place?" Shere asked as he released the monitor's power switch.  
"Because he's one of the best technicians Junk Guild had to offer." Mia said while putting one leg over the other. "And with all due respect, Sir, when the hell are you going to get changed?"  
"Quit the 'sir' already. This isn't a military operation." Shere said as he stood up and left the room.

"Ooh, moody are we?" Rick proclaimed as he lost the camera signal.   
"Who's moody? Someone just entering the bridge said.  
He was a tall man, about 30 years old, wearing a sleeveless black shirt with a yellow 'S' on it and black trousers. His short hair and trimmed beard were red, and his eyes had a grey colour.  
With his hands in his pockets, he floated towards the navigator's chair and made himself comfortable.  
"Well? Who's moody?" he grinned.  
"Nobody is, amigo! We're all having a wonderful time, boring ourselves to hell in here! Now I know that there isn't much to do here at the moment, but if I knew from the start that I'd be sitting here on my butt..."  
"Rick, was it?" the red-haired guy asked.  
"That's me. You're Nigel, right? 'sup man? What is it?"  
"Quiet down for a bit, you're irritating me." Nigel said as he checked the radar.  
Rick stared at him for a few seconds, mouth wide open, before he turned around and started to shuffle a deck of cards, mumbling things like "The nerve these people have..."

- - - - -

Right after I posted Phase 01, I decided to add this one as Phase 02, instead of the already written Phase 02 which I haven't typed yet. I think the characters haven't been introduced enough, yet, so I added this sort of 'filler' episode.


	3. Chapter 02

PHASE 02

"All four of them!" Shere yelled as Rick showed the cards in his hand.   
"I won again, amigo! That's five in a row!" Rick grinned.  
"I've taken more beatings in the past hour then any other time in my life... I don't stand a chance..."  
"Wanna play again?"  
"Sure." 

"Opening new log file..." Mia spoke to herself as she began to update her logbook on a computer.  
"We've been heading towards Heliopolis for more then two days now. W should be arriving in about 18:00 hours. No serious problems have occurred so far. Technician Rick Marble seems to attract trouble, however.   
The other day, he somehow clogged the entire drainage system after washing his hair.  
20 hours ago, he almost set the canteen on fire by trying to fry – yes, fry – chocolate.  
Just now, he started to dissemble and reassemble the entire storage crane.   
Right now, he has been ordered to stay in the relaxation room until further order.  
...I do wonder why Junk Guild was so set on having this guy accompanying us.  
Test pilot Nigel Schtauff has proved to be a much...easier person. No bad behaviour has been sighted, except for his attitude towards Rick Marble. ...which is quite understandable.  
The Silverwind vessel's functions-"  
She paused for a moment. After scrolling upwards, she added "Rick Marble claims that he did all of the above actions out of boredom."   
Sighing, she continued her report.

Passing through the hallway, Nigel was rapidly pressing buttons on a small device. After keeping a yellow button, located on the thing's side, pressed for three seconds, he returned the device to his pocket.   
Grinning, he continued his way.

"Look who's got four hearts!" Rick shouted, while floating upside-down above his chair.  
"DAMN!" Shere swore.  
Through the open slide door, Nigel entered the room  
Scratching the back of his head, Shere continued: "He's faking it. He must be."  
"Another game, then?" Rick asked. He grabbed the seat with his left hand, and turned himself around, still floating upside-down. "Nigel, amigo, wanna join us?"  
Nigel took a seat, and looked at Rick. Rick's hair was floating to all sides, which was quite a disturbing sight. With his eyebrows frowned, he said: "You do know that the chocolate is still on the wall?"   
"It's not my fault that the darn refused to warm it up! I can fix cooking devices in seconds, but how the hell was I supposed to know that setting it to 'max' was a bad idea? I just wanted some nice, hot chocolate!"  
"If you wanted hot chocolate, you should've went to the coffee machine! Instead of placing a big chunk of chocolate, with the vacuum package still wrapped around it!And opening the hatch wasn't such a bright idea either!"  
Quietly, Shere left his chair and sat down on the couch in the opposite side of the room. Grabbing a magazine with some guy called T.M.Revolution on the cover, he tried not to disturb the conversation Rick and Nigel were having.  
"Well they shouldn't make those things so that they spit out whatever is in it when you open the hatch!"  
"You shouldn't open the hatch at al! It automatically opens when it's finished!"  
"Then the flaw is that THAT AIN'T INDICATED!"  
"IT IS!"

"...this concludes my report so far. Mia Scarlet, Cosmic Era 71..."  
Mia stretched herself out while leaning back, and then left her room. In the hallway, she turned right and grabbed the conveyor, which upon touch started to move.  
Entering the relaxation room, where Nigel and Rick were now yelling at each other, she asked Shere "Shouldn't anyone be on the bridge right now?"  
Shere looked up from the article he was reading, and explained that Nigel had installed a system which would send out a signal to everyone if any object would approach them. "So, if there is something we should know of, we'll get called right away."  
"Right. Are those two still talking about the drainage problem?"  
"No, Nigel seems to be tired of that discussion. Now, he likes to talk about the chocolate incident."  
"...great." 

Rick: "Let's deal with this problem in a manly way."  
"And what would that be?" Nigel replied.  
Rick grabbed his deck of cards. Nigel smiled.  
"I'll divide the cards!" both of them said.  
Shere and Mia hurried off to the bridge, seeing how both Rick and Nigel were about to go nuclear.

- - - - -

Phase 03 coming up! In which they arrive at Heliopolis!


	4. Chapter 03

PHASE 03

"You ready, Nigel?" Shere asked as he secured his spacehelmet.  
"Ready when you are" the red-haired Coordinator replied over the intercom.   
Both of them were standing alongside Silverwind's rocket anchor. The vessel itself was floating alongside the Heliopolis Colony.

"We're getting near Morgenroete's spaceport, amigo!" Rick spoke over the intercom.  
"Opening the hatch!" Mia said. She and Rick were sitting in the bridge. Rick was occupied with the ship's movement controls, while Mia operated the rocket anchor. By pressing a button, a hatch opened in the ship's hull.

Shere, standing on the other side of the hatch, firmly held on to a grip on the wall when space's vacuum sucked the air form the room. He saw the colony's remains move underneath him, and slowly what was left of a spaceport came into sight.

Mia reached for her headset, and spoke: "I'm about to fire the anchor. Stay away from it, and brace yourselves.!"  
"Roger that." Shere and Nigel replied over the intercom.   
"3...2...1...Fire!" Mia said as she launched the anchor. Immediately after the anchor penetrated the docking station's door, Rick fired the thrusters located on the ship's front.  
After the vessel shook for a few moments, Rick gave the all-clear signal. "You're ready to go, amigo! The ship'll be in a stable orbit around Heliopolis for at least two hours." Folding his arms behind his head, he added "So you two just take your time and see what's left in there."  
Shere: "Initiate radio jamming. From now on, long-range communication is prohibited unless it's a code Red situation. If anyone finds out Orb Mobile Suits are being salvaged here, we're toast."  
"Not that there is much chance a EA carrier would suddenly pop up..." Rick said.  
"Take care." Mia said as she activated the launcher mechanism attached to the rocket anchor's cable. After that, she initiated radio and radar silence.  
Rick: " You wanna play cards or something?"  
"No."   
"You're no fun, miss..." Rick proclaimed as he swung his legs over one of his chair's arms.

"The short-range communication line is secure." Nigel said as he stopped pressing buttons on his spacesuit's wrist.  
"Nigel, we're about to launch. Hold on tight." Having said that, Shere grabbed a handle on the vehicle's side and attached his spacesuit's emergency cable to another handle. So did Nigel.  
The 'vehicle' consisted of a large cargo holder with handles on it's side. It was connected to the rocket anchor's cable through multiple small wheels. It also had a launcher mechanism similar to a downgraded rocket anchor on it's front and backside. This allowed the vehicle to be shot from one from one of the cable's ends to the other, and visa versa.  
"Here we go!" Shere said as he rammed his fist against a large red button on the vehicle's side. Immediately the firing mechanism activated and the cargo holder, with Shere and Nigel holding onto it, shot forward towards the colony.

"Sure you don't want to play Black Jack?" Rick asked while shuffling a deck of cards.  
"Rick, I'm on guard duty! And so are you!"

With a loud bang, which was nullified by space's vacuum, the vehicle hit the anchor. Nigel and Shere both disconnected, and then moved towards the spaceport's entrance.  
"Looks like the explosion blew quite a hole through the blast doors." Nigel said, examinating the damaged entrance.  
Shere: " We stored some prototype bazookas around here. They must've detonated." He pushed off from a derelict ship docking crane and entered the spaceport. "Now we head for the construction facility. This way."  
Activating his helmet's flashlights, he started to move towards a closed hatch.

Rick was floating upside-down next to Mia while randomly picking cards.   
"Bridge?"   
"..."   
"Come on, just for once!"  
"..."   
"But I'm bored!"  
"..."   
"Please?" 

Another door broke open. Light illuminated the pitch-black hall. Slowly, Shere ventured forward.  
"Can you see anything?" Nigel asked, following behind him.  
Shere didn't reply. Carefully, he stepped forward, letting his helmet's flashlight slide over the hall's content.  
"The quantum computer harddisk seems totalled, as is the controlling platform. The anti-beam coating tank seems fine..."  
"That's nice and all, but where is the Mobile Suit?"  
"Don't expect it to be in one piece. According to the intel, even though this place wasn't completely whiped out by the self-detonator, the damage is still pretty bad. I think that..."  
"Well, it looks just fine to me."

"Look, I know this one card trick..." Rick said as he split his deck of cards in two and held one half in each hand. He then tried to hold the two halves with his index and middle finger.  
"You hold them like this, and then..."  
Three seconds later, Mia's keyboard was littered with cards.  
"Oops."   
Mia tried to shove the cards away, and said "Enough! Rick Marble, go sit in that chair over there RIGHT NOW!"  
"But..."   
"No 'but's young main!"  
"Stop talking like my granny!"  
"Shut up!"  
"Eh..."   
"SHUT THE beep UP!"  
"...that sure ain't like my granny."  
Right then, the screen in front of Mia began to flash. An alarm went off.   
Mia: "We've got visitors! It's... ZAFT!


	5. Chapter 04

PHASE 04

Shere turned around. Nigel already had is flashlight aimed at the Mobile Suit floating above the door through which they had just entered. The MS carrier frame, which should've held the Suit in place, had been damaged. As a result, it had broken off the cargo crane.  
And thus the white and grey coloured Suit was now floating around amid the remains of it's carrier frame.  
"Not bad." Nigel spoke, putting his right hand against his hip.  
"The left leg seems to be damaged, as is the shield. Probably caused by the carrier frame's collapse. But that can be repaired." Shere said as he moved towards it. Pushing himself in the MS's direction, he floated towards the cockpit. "All the weaponry is equipped, for some reason. I'll go see if the new OS has been installed. Nigel, go check out the data disks over there."  
Shere placed a hand and a foot against the Suit's chest to stabilise himself. "Hm, I wonder if the battery upgrade has been-"  
"Hold it." Nigel said calmly.  
"Huh?" Shere replied as his hand reached the opening switch.  
"Don't move a muscle... Natural!"  
Nigel yelled the last word over the intercom. From his eye's corner, Shere could see Nigel was holding a gun with both hands. Obviously, it was aimed right at him.  
"Why the hell did we include firearms in our equipment, anyway?" Shere thought.

Stuffing his deck of cards in his pocket, Rick asked if Mia wasn't joking.   
"I'm dead serious. A ZAFT Nazca carrier is heading our way." She pointed at the radar to show from what direction they were coming. "They haven't detected us yet because of the colony's remains floating around and our radar jammer. Although I don't exactly get how the radar jammer works..." she said, as she glanced at the radar jamming device, which had the label 'Actaeon Industries'. "Anyway, they'll find us if we keep sitting here much longer!"   
"Umm, aren't we in a civilian spaceship? We're undercover, right?"   
"And what exactly would a civilian ZAFT vessel be doing in Orb territory? Not to mention what those ZAFT people are doing here..." Mia said as she readjusted the blackglasses on top of her head. Stroking a hair from her face, she continued. "But we don't have time for this kind of talk! Contact commander Shere at once!"  
Rick quickly returned to his chair. "Deactivating the Radio Jammer!" he said as he pressed some buttons with one hand, while putting his headset in place with the other. "Calling 1, 2, 3! Shere, are you there?"

"Shere are you there?" both Shere and Nigel head from their intercoms.   
Nigel, deactivating his long-range reply channel, said "Don't even try to answer that call, or I'll shoot."  
"Amigo, you've got to return immediately! ZAFT is coming this way! Shere, wait, Commander, it looks like they want to enter the research facility! I don't know for how long this line can be maintained, but..."  
The signal was cut off due to radio disturbance.  
Shere thought about the possibility of replying to Rick, and whether or not he would be able to dodge the Coordinator's shot.  
But before he could decide, Nigel screamed "Be silent, Natural!", and pulled the trigger.

"Commander! Do you read? Shere!" Rick yelled through the intercom. "He's not replying..."  
"I already noticed that." Mia said while her fingers flew across the keyboard.  
"Adjusting the ship's orbit. Wing-based boosters stand-by. Hauling in the anchor cable..."  
"Hauling in the rocket anchor! Are we gonna leave them behind?"  
"Of course not. I'm just moving closer to the colony. That might buy us some time..."  
"We can't wait here too long, should I launch in a Moebius to get them?"  
"Are you mad? Letting them think that we're EA is the last thing we want! Get the return flares ready!"  
"All right. Return signal flares stand-by. But why..."  
"Fire them at an 45 degree angle from the ship's front, along the colony's side. We'll distract them with this."  
With sweat on his forehead, Rick readjusted the signal flares. "Checking, at a 45 degree angle form the ship's front, right alongside the colony's surface."  
"Confirmed."   
"Here goes..."

- in the ZAFT Nazca carrier -  
CIC: "Sir, there are signal flares coming from-"  
Commander: "What the..."  
Another CIC person: "The reconnaissance unit has detected a civilian vessel alongside Heliopolis!"  
Commander: "On screen!"  
The large screen in the middle of the bridge flashed, and showed the Silverwind vessel firing return flares.  
Commander: "Return flares! Do they have troops in there! Send out the GINNs now!"


	6. Chapter 05

PHASE 05

Shere closed his eyes and tried to think up some heroic last thought as he braced himself. The bullet's impact threw Shere backwards, and he slammed into the prototype's chest.

Shere opened his eyes. Everything seemed black. Then, he realised that his flashlight had been damaged when he hit the Mobile Suit. He also noticed that his body was strangely void of lethal wounds or at least horrible pain.

The earphone was silent. His long-range communication device had been shot...

"You may say I'm a bloody traitor now." Nigel said, still pointing the gun at Shere. Nigel had also activated his helmet's flashlights, and was aiming them at Shere, too.

"I...you're working for ZAFT, right? Why the hell were you..."

"You were developing a Natural-use OS!" Nigel shouted. "We, ZAFT that is, thought it would be bad if EA got their hands on such a thing! And that's why we're here to stop you. And...don't move!". Nigel held the gun with both hands as he yelled the last words.

Shere was trying to slowly move his right hand towards his belt, where his firearm was stored. He held still when Nigel noticed that.

"Don't even try anything funny." Nigel sneered. "Remember, I can shoot you any time I want."

"You're one of them fanatical Zala-supporters, aren't you?"

"I am not. Personally, I do not hold any grudge against the pathetic creatures called Naturals – no, don't try to reach for your gun, put your hands where I can see them – but I am a ZAFT soldier, and this Natural OS could sway the war's tide. That's why the OS, and it's designers, are to be eliminated."

"Then why didn't you shoot me, one of the designers, already?" Shere asked, trying to keep Nigel talking while thinking up a way to get out of this mess.

"Good question. Let ne think about that one for a second..."

"It's not working." Rick said, watching the radar. "They haven't changed their course. Firing those signal flared was...wait...damn! New heat sources detected! They're launching Mobile Suits!"

Mia, pressing keyboard buttons like crazy, said "Try contacting Nigel and Shere once more!" before she started to enter the Rocket Anchor's emergency eject code.

While Rick yelled to no one in particulair, Mia activated the ship's hull thrusters and cut the Rocket Anchor cable.

"It's no use, he's out of range or something!" Rick said after numerous attempts to open a line. He looked at the ship's status screen. "Ejecting the Rocket Anchor! But you just said we-"

"I know what I said, but the situation's changed. If they're launching GINNs..."

"Judging from the thruster heat trail, they might be High Mobility Type GINNs. Five of them."

"Great. They'll find us in no time, even if we hog onto the colony's surface. So that's why we're leaving."

Right then, the Rocket Anchor was disconnected, and the Silverwind vessel started to move.

"Set coordinates to-"

"But what about Shere?"

"You're not concerned about Nigel?" Mia asked as she activated the Main Thrusters.

"Not really. He owns me money, ya know."

"Right. We will pull around the colony and try to contact them once more when we are on the opposite side. If that doesn't work, we'll hide in the asteroid belt and wait."

"Roger. Main thrusters running." Rick said as he took control of the ship's movement controls.

"Thruster output 60! Try to avoid debris floating around! Launch!"

Nigel was still holding Shere at gunpoint.

"...it seems they've arrived." Nigel grinned. He was holding his right hand against his helmet, maintaining a secure line with someone.

"You wouldn't mind to tell me who exactly arived?"

"Just some...friends. They'll be here any second. Be a good boy and stay put."

Shere glanced at the Mobile Suit behind him. The distance between him and the cockpit's door was less then three metres. But to open the door, he had to enter a six digit code...hmm...

"Two of them are entering the Space Port!" Mia exclaimed as she saw two GINNs barge through the colony's surface on a screen.

"Do you think they can see us?" Rick asked, occupied with maneuvering the ship through colony remains.

"No, we're out of visual range, and the junk around here'll conceal us from their their heat sensors."

Mia looked at Rick with a frightened look. "But it seems that of the three GINNs stationed at the entrance, one is heading our way!"

"Ah, sh-"

"Estimated time before arrival: two minutes! Main Thrusters full output!"

"Here they are!" Nigel yelled as a ZGMF-1017 High Maneuver Type GINN sliced through the storage hall's wall with his MA-M3 Heavy Sword. After that, it fired his thrusters and broke through the wall with it's shoulder.

Shere grinned.

As pieces of the wall flew around, the GINN flew straight forward and crashed into another wall, causing even more damage.

As the ZAFT Mobile Suit's leg temporarily blocked off Nigel's view, Shere kicked away a floating gear box and then moved towards the prototype Astray's chest.

"He's closing in on us! Just 30 seconds till...if we don't..."

"Hold on tight!" Rick yelled as he turned the steering wheel almost upside-down.

The Silverwind made a strange 6-like turn, circkeling around a large asteroid once – "Cut all the thrusters!" – and then holding still behind it.

"If we're lucky, he will pass right by us." Rick said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"What if we aren't lucky?" Mia asked.

Rick grinned. "Then we're screwed, senorita."

"You fool, what are you doing!" Nigel yelled at the GINN pilot who tried to stabilize himself amids all the rubble. "Don't move a muscle untill I tell you to do so!"

Nigel then ventured forward into the dark hall.

"Shere! Don't you dare to get away, boy! Stay still if you want to live little while longer! I'll..."

He then saw something move towards the door through which Shere and he had just entered the room. "There you are!"

Nigel aimed...

Both of them held their breath for some reason when the Mobile Suit passed by.

Rick: "He hasn't seen us!"

Right then, the GINN stopped and turned around.

"You bastard! Don't run away!"

While firing his gun, Nigel sped towards the door. He pulled his knife out, jumped, and barged right into...

"A gear box!"

Except for the GINN's one eye and Nigel's flashlight, the hall was completely dark.

Nothing but the so-called ex-ZAFT soldier and the Mono-Eyed Mobile Suit, who had his back turned towards the prototype Astray, lighted the area.

Then, suddenly, two emerald eyes flashed. If there hadn't been a vacuum in the hall, everyone would've heard metal being ripped apart, followed by mechanic movement and plugs being disconnected.

A ruby-coloured Beam Saber illuminated the hall.

"Ooh yeah." Shere whispered.

Nigel: "Ah, cra-"

Shere pulled a trigger backwards.

"TAKE THAT!"

Seconds later, the Astray's Beam Saber cut through the High Maneuver GINN.

- in the ZAFT Nazca class carrier -

"Sir, we've lost contact with Colemann's unit!"

Captain: "What!"

"Also, his last transmission showed a Mobile Suit-type heat source in the colony!"

Vice-captain: "Which means..."

Captain: "Those return signal flares had some meaning to them, I guess. Well then, tell everyone to be on their guard. No, send them all to the Space Port. And wait untill he comes out. Unit 1 is to return immediatly."

"Yes, Sir!"

Mia: "He's...turning around?"

Rick exclaimed a loud "YEAH!", followed by a "WHOOHOO!" and some strange choking noises.


End file.
